We must discuss (in character):

• sorting the cards into the five "voices" or categories
• our reasoning for why which cards go together
• our reasoning for why each set of cards matches a particular "voice"
• our decision/reasoning/arguments about which two destinations to choose

What we have so far:

The roleplay is now mandatory here! All in-character reactions to the puzzle, discussion on how to sort the cards, and discussion about where to visit should be done here. Out of character commentary can happen on the puzzle board.

After solving the puzzle, the door swung open, and Squirrel Tales stepped into the Gallery of Choices. Soon, they'd solved Tamara's literary puzzle, and she was ready to begin their tour. She brought them to the fortune teller, and another puzzle to solve. As the fortune teller began flipping over cards, Raine held her breath. What would this seer have to tell them? As with many of her kind, however, her information would not be given easily. The cards seemed to be covered in entirely random images. The clues she gave weren't much help either! Raine released the breath with a woosh. Man oh man, this wasn't going to be easy at all!!!

"Fifty cards, five sets of ten," Raine mumbled. "Five sets... Ten suns, ten moons, ten staffs, ten blades, and ten gears, to represent this wagon, the forest at night, the forest by day, the scene of the murder, and whatever that lion represents. Wow..." She stood looking at the cards, scanning right to left, then left to right, then top to bottom, and bottom to top.

"That forest snowglobe could have to do with the forest at night, which might be the moons... And the so called 'sun' set might be the forest by day. And that one book, the 'Book of the Golden Suns' must belong to that set... Oh, and there is a moon on that one blue scroll-looking thing... Oh, a woodland tea party! How fun! Could that have something to do with the sun set, the forest by day ones?" She gazed around at the cards some more. "What is that?" she spoke up again. "Is that a gear on that reddish cloak? As a clasp for it? Gears for those whose lives are bound by the workings of time... Time... Time... Time... There are a couple of pocket watches... The 'Thru Time' one, and the one that doesn't seem to work properly..."

"Bah," she continued. "Loads of these don't seem to have anything to do with anything. Did she say something about friendship? There is a friendship bracelet... Which category was the friendship stuff supposed to fit? That box of cupcakes would be great for sharing with friends. Maybe that belongs to the same category?"

"There is some wibbly wobbly magic going on in here, "Max comments as he enters, looking over his glasses in disbelief.

Max smirked After hearing the teller explain the cards "Blades, voices, glad she didn't say 'shouts' or I'd say we'd be fighting dragons later."

((((Reminder, , everyone needs to contribute to the roleplay at least a little bit (unless you're R, though we'd still love to see you... We need to get some major mentions of how we're categorizing and sorting things. And if you have no idea, you can also add commentary about how confused your character is! That's acceptable, too! And it'll give the rest of us something to reply to... :O)))))

"Dragons," Raine repeated. "I sure hope not." She laughed lightly. "Blades... Right, that was one of the groupings. With intrigue and danger... Max, which items do you think would fall under that?"

(((( I'll insert your reply here, if you can comment with the items you identified: both the zepplins- Staffs: Adventure Muumuu- Staff: Friendship/adventure. Leftover Sugared Almonds- Moon: Love Daisey Jumper Skirt- Sun: Bright Eye of the Tigrean- Blades: Danger Passing of Time: Gears: Time RReign Eye- Blades: Intrigue?

Then if you could add the bit about "Hooded Gear Cloak might be Blades since its an assassins cloak...", since disagreement is healthy anyway... :P)))))))))

"Hmmm..." Raine continued. "What is that book called? The bleeding one? Something about assassinations? That sounds like it could go in that blades category. And that big old scythe looks pretty dangerous, too. There is another weapon... That crossbow. But it also has gears... But then, it says the gears are mostly for show... Do you think that belongs more with blades, intrigue, and danger, or more with gears?"

((((If someone wanted to insert a comment here, just post that it's a reply for after the crossbow)))))

"Those almonds seem to be leftovers from a wedding or something," Raine commented. If those fall under the moons category, with love and all of that, then maybe some of these other wedding-ish items do, too? Like that ring bearer plushie... And the trusty clean up broom."

"And friendship goes with cuddling, doesn't it? Beaubell is supposed to be a pretty cuddly companion. Oh, and a pet rock is a companion, too. Like the one on this sticker. The Block BB sticker."

"Oh, and this one is actually kind of obvious. I can't believe I missed it! That bunny rabbit is a moon rabbit. So... moon?""

Raine rummaged around in the cards, shifting some here and there. "What about all of these tea party things? They certainly have to go together, right? There's a tea party plushie, and a tea pot purse.. But in which group?"

(((And likewise if you have other comments you'd like to tuck in between the things Raine says...)))))

"I wonder..." Raine commented then. "Blades and murder seem to go hand in hand. Now, granted, our murder victim may have been bludgeoned to death, and attacked by a wolf creature... So not with a blade. But both blades and this murder are pretty connected. Maybe the blades represent the balcony location?"

"Oh, and the Sinagari have a fortune teller, so they also seem to have magic. Perhaps whatever category the spirit guide book falls into would be the 'voice' that leads here, to the camp?"

"Hold on...." Max paused with his finger over a card. "The Gear Cloak might not be...Gears. Not too long ago, there were assassins in our realm that wore these... So they could also be Blades, maybe?"

"Oh, a Daisey Jumper Skirt. Nothing says bright and Sunny like a bright jumper skirt".

"Passing of Time? That has to be Gears. Ya know, turning gears of time?....never mind, just, gears."

(((.....I take so long to type, I never see others post.....)))

(((((((Added what you've commented so far... And I shifted bits around, and tucked yours in and amongst mine... :O

:P And Guardian, don't worry about missing other people's posts... so far it's just you and me...))))))))))))))))

"Oh, and that BB thing isn't the only sticker.... There are two other ones. And also these daisies... You're supposed to stick them in your hair. Those would round out the Staffs category, making them an even ten...)

"We're getting there... There aren't so terribly many cards left..." Raine cheered. "What is that slinky looking bit over there? Lingerie? I guess that's part of love, too..."

"Oh no!" Raine said with a sigh. "There's another sticker... This hat. You're supposed to stick it on someone's head. If the stickers need to be together, that would, too, and that would bring us up to eleven in that category... Hmmm... Have you noticed that most of the stuff in the staff category is in sort of pastel colors? But that radish and witch hat sticker aren't the same color scheme..."

(((feel free to fit these in wherever... and if either of them seem sound add them to our list in the other thread?)))

"Perhaps the Experiment 164 Plushie belongs in Staffs..?" Dahlia chimed in, "According to the descriptive text on the card, it appears that even though this little fellow is unloved by all he still strives to have a positive outlook and be happy for others... it seems he might be seeking the friendship he's never had..?"

(((maybe this could be fit after one of the assassin comments?)))

"Oh! Speaking of assassins..." Dahlia began excitedly, "Maybe this adorable little Flufferkins would fit best with Blades..? These murderous balls of fluff are most certainly dangerous... and a bit intriguing, if you ask me... in fact I always wanted one as a child but mum told me no."

"Oh, Dahlia," commented Raine. "You say he's always happy for others... The moon items are for people who value happiness most... Perhaps it goes there?"

(((((((((((Everything up to here should be in the first post.)))))))))))

"I think that face mask is a common prep item for brides. And didn't it come out around the same time as a lot of these other wedding items? Seems that way to me..." Raine commented, sliding the face mask into the Staff line of cards. "Oh, and it looks like that group is up to ten items! Oh, but.... there are a bunch of sea items... The sash, which we already stuck in the moon category, plus a seamare, sea hair, and a book about fishing... If we took the sash out of the moon category, we'd be down to 9 items. But, those cupcakes in the staffs section are LOVEly, and best shared with those you LOVE, so maybe that can take the place of the sash in the moon category?"

(((I just typed all these out on Notepad as I was reading over again everything we have written so far. I hope these fit well into the conversation so far.)))

((after Max wibble wobble comment)) Glancing at the fortune teller now in front of them, Sky answered back "Completely agree with you there."

((after Raine comment on crossbow)) Looking at the card Raine indicated, Sky replied, "I'm thinking Blades. It says the gears are mostly for show, and it IS a weapon.." She trailed off as she started looking over some of the other cards.

((could be before or after Max's comment on daisy jumper skirt; I'm thinking after)) Sky spoke up, "Would that mean the Sun set is the Day Forest and the Moon set is the Night Forest?" As the others continued looking over the cards, Sky thought to herself, 'But that would be almost too easy, and the Moon ones 'live to love' and 'value happiness most'. That doesn't really sound like the forest around here lately..'

((after Max comment on gear cloak)) Sky shuddered as she remembered hearing stories of such assassins. They were not to be trifled with.

((after Dahlia's comment on Flufferkins)) Sky took a look at the card Dahlia spoke of, making a mental note to be more careful of the next pet she chose.

((insert comment about friendship under Staffs area)) Looking at the more pastel grouping of cards they had gathered, Sky said, "I believe it was the Staff set that mentioned friendship. How many Staff cards would we still need?" Leaving that question in the air, Sky started thinking to herself, 'Something seems familiar about some of these cards. It's as if I've seen some of them together before.'

((after Raine's comment on lingerie)) Sky looked at the lingerie indicated. "I know this may be a bit 'out there', but I'm thinking that lingerie might be a part of the Blades set. The description of Blades was something along the lines of "live below the surface" and intrigue and danger." So I'm thinking lingerie 'lives beneath the surface of the outer clothes.

((after Raine points out the tea party set)) Sky shuddered looking at the woodland tea party card remembering an old story she read as a child. 'It's all fun and games unless there's a 'queen' around...' she thought, looking through some more cards.

((before or after the last comment about the Singari, magic, and spirit guide book; looking back at all I ended up typing, probably after unless you want to cut it up after she writes in her book. That's fine)) "I think I agree with Raine on the Blades set." Sky thought back to what they had heard of the murder, 'But what if it wasn't claws, but special claw-like blades...?' Sky looked at more cards reading their descriptions carefully. Picking up the Bottled Rift Essence, she thought 'enough trying to work this in my head..' Taking out a small sketch book, Sky began to write what they knew so far. Then reading over the Rift Essence card again she gave a short laugh, "Ha! This sure is tricky. Guys, what are you when this essence is dumped on your head?" Not waiting for an answer she continued, "Under! As in 'lives below the surface'! It's just like the lingerie. Plus it's dangerous to have your head covered in that stuff. Yuck!" Taking up the Geared crossbow card , the Miniature Zeppelin and the Hooded Gear Cloak Sky looked closely at them. "And here!", she said pointing the cards out to the others, "I remember all of these from when I went to an event years ago! So if we gather all the cards related to that event for one set....and gather all the cards, not only 'intriguing' and 'dangerous', but also 'live below the surface' in another set..." Sky started shuffling cards around. "All of the items in this first set have gears in common, so I'm thinking this is the 'Gear' set. And all of the items in the second set here would probably be the 'Blades' set." Sky looked up smiling from her notes and 'organized chaos' of cards to her team. "What do you think?"

((possibly for the end)))

After much discussion and deliberation, the SquirrelTales had finally decided on an answer. Sky looked over at the fortune teller. "Thank you, kind Teller of the Singari, for your help. Be safe until this mystery is solved."

((Or something like that? It doesn't have to be my character, either. I just thought we could involve the "npc's" (if you will) in the conversation. Though I know we are Not allowed to speak for them.))

Okay guys, we finished this kind of at the last minute, and I'm checking it over on a very angry iPad, so I can't guarantee it is wonderful, but it's sent... Only like one group has posted a role play, and it does contain our logic, so I'm not sure we ARE supposed too post it. Or at least not yet. So I mailed that to GreenRowan along with our final sorting and location choices.

What we have:

After solving the puzzle, the door swung open, and Squirrel Tales stepped into the Gallery of Choices. Soon, they'd solved Tamara's literary puzzle, and she was ready to begin their tour. She brought them to the fortune teller, and another puzzle to solve.

"There is some wibbly wobbly magic going on in here," Max commented as he entered, looking over his glasses in disbelief.

Glancing at the fortune teller now in front of them, Sky answered back, "Completely agree with you there."

As the fortune teller began flipping over cards, Raine held her breath. What would this seer have to tell them? As with many of her kind, however, her information would not be given easily. The cards seemed to be covered in entirely random images. The clues she gave weren't much help either! Raine released the breath with a woosh. Man oh man, this wasn't going to be easy at all!!!

"Fifty cards, five sets of ten," Raine mumbled. "Five sets... Ten suns, ten moons, ten staffs, ten blades, and ten gears, to represent this wagon, the forest at night, the forest by day, the scene of the murder, and whatever that lion represents. Wow..." She stood looking at the cards, scanning right to left, then left to right, then top to bottom, and bottom to top.

Max smirked after hearing the teller explain the cards. "Blades, voices," he commented. "Glad she didn't say 'shouts' or I'd say we'd be fighting dragons later."

"Dragons," Raine repeated. "I sure hope not." She laughed lightly. "Blades, though... Right, that's one of the groupings. With intrigue and danger... Max, which items do you think would fall under that?"

((Insert Max comments about the two blade items he spotted here)

"Hmmm..." Raine continued. "What is that book called? The bleeding one? Something about assassinations? That sounds like it could go in that blades category. And that big old scythe looks pretty dangerous, too. There is another weapon... That crossbow. But it also has gears... But then, it says the gears are mostly for show... Do you think that belongs more with blades, intrigue, and danger, or more with gears?"

Looking at the card Raine indicated, Sky replied, "I'm thinking Blades. It says the gears are mostly for show, and it IS a weapon..." She trailed off as she started looking over some of the other cards.

"That forest snowglobe could have to do with the forest at night, which might be the moons... And the so called 'sun' set might be the forest by day. And that one book, the 'Book of the Golden Suns' must belong to that set... Oh, and there is a moon on that one blue scroll-looking thing... Oh, a woodland tea party! How fun! Could that have something to do with the sun set, the forest by day ones?" She gazed around at the cards some more.

"Oh, a Daisy Jumper Skirt," Max broke in then. "Nothing says bright and sunny like a bright jumper skirt."

Sky spoke up, "Would that mean the Sun set is the Day Forest and the Moon set is the Night Forest?" As the others continued looking over the cards, Sky thought to herself, 'But that would be almost too easy, and the Moon ones 'live to love' and 'value happiness most'. That doesn't really sound like the forest around here lately..'

"What is that?" Raine spoke up again. "Is that a gear on that reddish cloak? As a clasp for it? Gears for those whose lives are bound by the workings of time... Time... Time... Time... There are a couple of pocket watches... The 'Thru Time' one, and the one that doesn't seem to work properly..."

"Hold on...." Max paused with his finger over a card. "The Gear Cloak might not be... gears. Not too long ago, there were assassins in our realm that wore these... So they could also be Blades, maybe?"

Sky shuddered as she remembered hearing stories of such assassins. They were not to be trifled with.

"Oh! Speaking of assassins..." Dahlia began excitedly, "Maybe this adorable little Flufferkins would fit best with Blades...? These murderous balls of fluff are most certainly dangerous... and a bit intriguing, if you ask me... in fact I always wanted one as a child but mum told me no."

Sky took a look at the card Dahlia spoke of, making a mental note to be more careful of the next pet she chose.

"Bah," Raine continued. "Loads of these don't seem to have anything to do with anything. Did she say something about friendship? There is a friendship bracelet... Which category was the friendship stuff supposed to fit? That box of cupcakes would be great for sharing with friends. Maybe that belongs to the same category? And friendship goes with cuddling, doesn't it? Beaubell is supposed to be a pretty cuddly companion. Oh, and a pet rock is a companion, too. Like the one on this sticker. The Block BB sticker. Oh, and that BB thing isn't the only sticker.... There are two other ones. And also these daisies... You're supposed to stick them in your hair. Those would round out the Staffs category, making them an even ten..."

"Oh no!" Raine exclaimed suddenly with a sigh. "There's another sticker... This hat. You're supposed to stick it on someone's head. If the stickers need to be together, that would, too, and that would bring us up to eleven in that category... Hmmm... Have you noticed that most of the stuff in the staff category is in sort of pastel colors? But that radish and witch hat sticker aren't the same color scheme..." Raine moved them around a bit on the table.

Looking at the more pastel grouping of cards they had gathered, Sky said, "I believe it was the Staff set that mentioned friendship. How many Staff cards would we still need?" Leaving that question in the air, Sky started thinking to herself, 'Something seems familiar about some of these cards. It's as if I've seen some of them together before.'

"Perhaps the Experiment 164 Plushie belongs in Staffs..?" Dahlia chimed in, "According to the descriptive text on the card, it appears that even though this little fellow is unloved by all he still strives to have a positive outlook and be happy for others... it seems he might be seeking the friendship he's never had..?"

"Oh, Dahlia," commented Raine. "You say he's always happy for others... The moon is apparently for people who value happiness most... Perhaps it goes there?"

(Max comment about almonds) "Those almonds seem to be leftovers from a wedding or something," Raine commented. "If those fall under the moons category, with love and all of that, then maybe some of these other wedding-ish items do, too? Like that ring bearer plushie... And the trusty clean up broom. We're getting there... There aren't so terribly many cards left..." Raine cheered. "What is that slinky looking bit over there? Lingerie? I guess that's part of love, too..."

Sky looked at the lingerie indicated. "I know this may be a bit 'out there', but I'm thinking that lingerie might be a part of the Blades set. The description of Blades was something along the lines of "live below the surface" and intrigue and danger." So I'm thinking lingerie 'lives beneath the surface of the outer clothes.

"Oh, and this one is actually kind of obvious," Raine chimed in again. I can't believe I missed it! That bunny rabbit is a moon rabbit. So... moon?"

"Passing of Time?" added Max. "That has to be Gears. Ya know, turning gears of time?.... Never mind, just, gears."

Raine rummaged around in the cards, shifting some here and there. "What about all of these tea party things? They certainly have to go together, right? There's a tea party plushie, and a tea pot purse.. But in which group? Wait, the Woodland Teaparty... They must go with that, so that would mean they belong in the sun group, right?"

Sky shuddered looking at the woodland tea party card remembering an old story she read as a child. 'It's all fun and games unless there's a 'queen' around...' she thought, looking through some more cards.

"I wonder..." Raine commented then. "Blades and murder seem to go hand in hand. Now, granted, our murder victim may have been bludgeoned to death, and attacked by a wolf creature... So not with a blade. But both blades and this murder are pretty connected. Maybe the blades represent the balcony location?"

"Oh, and the Sinagari have a fortune teller, so they also seem to have magic. Perhaps whatever category the spirit guide book falls into would be the 'voice' that leads here, to the camp?"

"I think I agree with Raine on the Blades set." Sky thought back to what they had heard of the murder, 'But what if it wasn't claws, but special claw-like blades...?' Sky looked at more cards reading their descriptions carefully. Picking up the Bottled Rift Essence, she thought 'enough trying to work this in my head..' Taking out a small sketch book, Sky began to write what they knew so far. Then reading over the Rift Essence card again she gave a short laugh, "Ha! This sure is tricky. Guys, what are you when this essence is dumped on your head?" Not waiting for an answer she continued, "Under! As in 'lives below the surface'! It's just like the lingerie. Plus it's dangerous to have your head covered in that stuff. Yuck!" Taking up the Geared crossbow card , the Miniature Zeppelin and the Hooded Gear Cloak Sky looked closely at them. "And here!", she said pointing the cards out to the others, "I remember all of these from when I went to an event years ago! So if we gather all the cards related to that event for one set....and gather all the cards, not only 'intriguing' and 'dangerous', but also 'live below the surface' in another set..." Sky started shuffling cards around. "All of the items in this first set have gears in common, so I'm thinking this is the 'Gear' set. And all of the items in the second set here would probably be the 'Blades' set." Sky looked up smiling from her notes and 'organized chaos' of cards to her team. "What do you think?"

After much discussion and deliberation, the SquirrelTales had finally decided on an answer. Sky looked over at the fortune teller. "Thank you, kind Teller of the Singari, for your help. Be safe until this mystery is solved."

^_^ Yaaay! Thank you ! I didn't see your post here, so was a little worried.. It looks like we forgot to write stuff for the (...) areas, but yay! I'm just happy we got all of our work (mostly you, GAngel, and Hannah's) in.
Thanks again for getting on at such a crazy hour. :)